Tips & Advice On Building A Ritual-Free, Personalized Wedding Ceremony

January 31, 2017

2 minute read

Guys! Our Bride to Be guest blogger, Kelsey, will no longer be a bride-to-be in just 5 short days!!! Her big day is Saturday and I cannot wait to help it go off! I hope Kelsey will write more after, but for now, we share some of her last posts! First up, her thoughts on creating a custom & personalized wedding ceremony. Take it away Kelsey!

How to Create a Personalized & Custom Wedding Ceremony | By: Kelsey

When it comes to the ceremony, it’s kind of a big deal, even though it may be the shortest part of the evening. This part of the evening is important because it’s the actual act of getting hitched, wooo! But depending on your situation, it can also be a minefield to plan because people have a lot of feelings about rituals and ceremonies.

We aren’t getting married in a church and since moving to DC we don’t really have a consistent place of worship so the first order of business was to find an offiiciant. The internet has a zillion options and we had a handful of friends who we talked about asking. Where to start?

I’m going to tell you something very important about the ceremony: ask your parents. Sure you can make your own choices about dinner, music, even your dress, but the ceremony carries this weird importance that us unmarried people don’t understand. I had no idea how much importance my parents put on my ceremony, and I’m glad they told me, because I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

Now, you’re crafting the ceremony. The officiant is all ‘what rituals do you plan on doing?’ and automatically my mind goes –

Here’s the thing, I don’t want to pour sand into a glass or light a candle and call it magical. I don’t want to release butterflies or doves, because it’s just messy. It’s not my thing. Getting married is my thing, that’s what I’m here to do. So be honest with yourself and your officiant and say what you want. If you want to read your own vows, do it! If you want your dog to walk you down the aisle, do it! If you want to tie your hands in some sort of Houdini slash Irish tradition, well, do it!

Listen, I’m learning in planning this thing that you are going to make more decisions and think about the tiniest things ever you never thought mattered. Let this 20 minutes of the day matter. They’re important. They’re why you’re doing this. When the wine stops pouring, the dances are over, you’re going to remember looking into your love’s eyes when you said ‘I do.’

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